The World

Bishop Ignatius Gong, 87, former Roman Catholic bishop of Shanghai who was jailed for 30 years on charges of high treason before being freed on parole in 1985, has had his political rights restored by the Shanghai Higher People's Court, the New China News Agency said. The prelate was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1955 on charges of high treason when he refused to join a movement severing ties between China's Catholic Church and the Vatican. As many as 10 other priests reportedly are still in jail, including some freed and rearrested after Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978.